THE morning after was a repeat of the night before but, with everybody renewed by a night's sleep, the Four Courts again had all the gaiety of a public hanging.
When the jury was recalled at 1.05 p.m., Proinsias De Rossa looked calm at the back of the court, though when the verdict came it was probably just as well he was sitting down. The other main protagonist, Eamon Dunphy, stood nearby. He joked with friends and journalists but every sinew of his body seemed tense.
In some ways he looked like a greyhound about to be loosed after a hare. In other ways, he looked like the hare, but when the jury confirmed its failure to reach an overall verdict, a few of the sinews visibly relaxed. Neither Mr De Rossa nor Mr Dunphy betrayed obvious emotions, but the latter turned a relieved face to the Independent Newspapers' managing director, Mr David Palmer, who beamed back.
Then, after excusing the jurors, Mr Justice Moriarty announced the single answer they had reached, and the result became clearer. Mr De Rossa lost none of his apparent composure, quietly explaining the significance of "question 1(b)," first to his sister, Marie, and then to Eamon Gilmore. But even as he was doing this, Mr Dunphy was receiving discrete handshakes and kisses from supporters.
In football terms, the result may have been a nil-nil draw, but for the Dunphy corner it was the kind of nil-nil draw that Manchester United secured the night before. The defence lawyers had the look of a team who held a four-goal lead from the first leg, and if the plaintiff's team was looking forward to the next round it was litigation rather than football they had in mind.
In separate set-pieces on the Four Courts steps, the two sides gave brief statements to the press. Having visibly gathered himself in the Round Hall before braving the press corps, Mr De Rossa joked "there must be a general election" when he emerged into the flashing lights. He spoke of pursuing the case to the end, but the real general election may well be in his mind as he considers what to do next.
Mr Justice Moriarty sent the jury away with praise and apologies. Throughout the trial, the judge has addressed the jurors with the sort of courtesy normally reserved for courtship. Yesterday, he repeated again his regrets about treatment that "far from befitted your role," and exempted them from jury service for 20 years.
This very young jury - some of whom were not born at the time of events touched upon in the trial, like the Official IRA ceasefire or Eamon Dunphy's last game for Millwall - had wrestled consciously with difficult issues for 14 dads. No one who watched their faces could doubt the seriousness with which they went about the task, or their disappointment at, not being able to return a more definitive verdict.
But because this was a civil action, they walked away from the Four Courts uncompensated for the bus fares, meals, ulcers and lost time of the past three weeks.
